You Will Be Mine
by Luneve
Summary: Now that Fionna's officially given up on Prince Gumball, she'll have to notice the totally radical Vampire King, right? How could she not? He's been there for her forever so now all he has to do is-wait, she's dating Flame Prince? Well, that simply won't do.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Literally, I'm living in a cardboard box on the streets :P**

Cake stood in the tree house's kitchen, humming to herself while she fried eggs for a small brunch-time snack.

"Now, where did that salt go?" she asked aloud, rummaging through various drawers, completely oblivious to the dark presence creeping up behind her.

Having located the salt, Cake returned to her cooking only to frown as an odd shadow was cast over her stove. She turned to berate Fionna for sneaking up on her, but screamed as Marshall Lee bared his oh so terrifying fangs at her.

"Sweet babies!" she exclaimed, digging her claws into the bookshelf she had jumped onto in her shock as Marshall floated around in a fit of laughter. "What are you doing trespassing in my crib during egg-time?" she demanded angrily, climbing down to stand in front oh him with her hands on her hips.

"You should learn to control your rage, patty-cake, if you turn any redder I'm gonna bite ya; I don't want a vampire cat cramping my style," he teased, enjoying the fear that flashed across the cat's face. "Anyway, where's Fi? She was supposed to jam with me today, but she was a no-show."

"Where my girl is, is none of _your_ business!" declared Cake, attempting to salvage her now over-fried eggs. "Aw, nuts," she mumbled sadly.

"That's cool, I'll just hang here with you until she comes back then," he said, floating over to the couch. He knew Cake would crack easily now because of her immense fear of vampires-that or her immense dislike of him.

"Fine, see what I care. I can't hear you; you don't exist; I'm in Cake land, and there's a super math party with no soul-sucking vamps," said Cake.

Marshall Lee remained silent, amused by the cat's attempts to ignore him.

"Nope, everything's just dandy and peaceful and quiet…in a good way though, quiet in a totes _good_ way, not, like, bone-chillingly eerie…"

…

…

…

…

…

"A date! She's on a date! You're giving me the heebie-jeebs, now get out!" yelled Cake in desperation.

"Date?" Marshall Lee asked. The word felt foreign on his tongue, especially when it was associated with Fionna, and even more especially when it was associated with Fionna but not _him_. "Who with?"

"I'm not telling!"

It couldn't be Bubblebutt. Sure she had a crush on him for a while, but he had messed with her heart gut pretty badly last time he checked. In fact, he thought she was finally moving on and was going to start seeing that other guys existed. Guys who'd been her friend since forever; guys with mad guitar skills; guys who had fangs; guys who had lived for over a millennium and were hailed as the Vampire King. If she wasn't dating him then who?

"You're doing that major creepy silent thing again! Agh! It's Flame Prince, okay? Mohawk fire dude, now get out, and don't you dare mess with my girl's date!" exclaimed Cake shoving a slightly dazed Vampire King out the door.

Once outside Marshall continued to hover where Cake had pushed him, simply processing the information he'd received.

Flame Prince? Seriously, _Flame Prince_? Fionna was a total goody-goody, yet she was on a date with the mad evil Flame Prince? That didn't make sense at all and it was also not part of his grand plan, which had previously consisted of waiting until she realized he existed as a _guy_ rather than a _friend._

Apparently, due to the new, unpleasant development, changes had to be made and game had to be upped.

**So this first chapter is short, but generally I'll write around 1500 -3000 words per chapter, I just want to gauge interest for the story. So review if ya can; I love reviews like I love Adventure Time (which is a whole bunch)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2! It's longer, as promised. I hope you enjoy! Also, shout out to those of you that reviewed, favorite, and followed!**

**Fionna cake13: What other team is there, really? ;)  
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**Adventure time girl 123: No worries, I appreciate the review regardless!  
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**genericperson: I love your username! Also, thank you for noticing. I spend a lot of time proof reading for spelling errors. I don't always catch them all, but I try.  
**

**jodiexluvsxanime: dawww first review! Algebraic!  
**

Marshall had scoured the land, searching for his bunny-eared adventuress, and after about an hour, he heard her very familiar voice coming from a nearby clearing. He also saw smoke, a telltale sign that the hotheaded prince was there as well.

Upon closer inspection, he noted three very bad signs: laughing, talking, and _blushing_. The third was the worst of them all because it meant without a shadow of a doubt that Fionna had _some_ feelings for the prince.

He sighed in exasperation and quickly made himself invisible when Flame Prince whipped his head around at the small noise.

What had he done so wrong? Sure he hadn't made any particular 'moves' on her, but she was supposed to be heartbroken! He didn't want to take advantage of her while she was vulnerable, and frankly, he didn't want to be a rebound-not that he really had the chance to now. Flame Prince had somehow wormed his way into his tomboy's heart, and though the Vampire King tried to see it as a good thing-FP was the rebound, not him-he was still furious over the fact that Fionna had skipped right over him.

Why was she messing around with princes when she could have a king?!

Redirecting his attention from his thoughts to the pair in front of him, Marshall felt his blood-or whatever was coursing through his body-boil. The Prince Flame-brain was leaning in slowly towards Fionna, a look of complete concentration on in his face. She leaned in as well and soon the two were hugging. Hugging!

The hug only lasted for a couple seconds before Fionna jumped a way from the fire elemental as if she were…burned…

Without thinking, Marshall became visible once more and dashed to his adventuress' side. As he expected, the parts of her body that had come into contact with the Mohawk idiot-namely, her arms, right cheek, and chest-were sporting angry looking scorch marks.

"Fi! Are you okay? Oh Glob, we gotta get you to Doctor Princess!" said Marshall worriedly, moving to pick her up.

"Marshall! What are you doing here? And get off me; I'm fine, okay? Just a little cooked, b-but I'm used to it so it doesn't _really _hurt," she mumbled, her cheeks tinged with a delicious red that Marshall couldn't fully appreciate given the circumstances. At least she seemed okay, though the Vampire King could never be sure when it came to her; she was always so strong. He turned to glare at the cause of her burns.

Prince Hothead had the decency to look slightly ashamed that he had hurt Fionna, but he was blushing hotly as well. Disgusted, he looked back at the bunny-eared girl, recalling what she had said earlier.

"What do you mean 'used to it'?" asked Marshall, his stomach knotting itself in anticipation of what he assumed would be an answer he didn't like.

"Ah! Um, it's nothing dude, j-just forget it, okay?" pleaded a flustered Fionna, who was now blushing even harder.

Recovering from his embarrassment rather quickly, Flame Prince cleared his throat and spoke. "Princess Fi-Fionna," he caught himself, "is my girlfriend, so of course we've...done stuff before." He kept his gaze steadily on the glaring vampire, doing a fairly good job of keeping his face a normal color despite the awkwardness of the conversation. Come to think of it, why was he explaining himself to some vampire? Sure Marshall Lee was a 'king' of sorts, but it wasn't like he was really royalty, not like the Flame Prince himself at least.

"What?" asked Marshall, feeling like someone had socked him in the gut. "Fi, I thought you were still getting over Gumball; what the flip are you doing?"

Fionna looked at the ground sadly, feeling guilty for not telling Marshall about her new crush earlier. Of course he was upset-he was her best friend and he was worried about her! She could've at least told him she was feeling better.

However she _was_ going to tell Marshall soon, after all, besides Cake, his opinion really mattered to her and she wanted his, er, blessing to date Flame Prince.

"Sorry Marsh. I was majorly messed up over…you know…and then I met FP, and, I dunno-he makes me feel all warm and stupid," she said simply with a happy smile on her slightly charred face.

Flame Prince looked back and forth between his girlfriend and the very hurt vampire standing in front of her. Suddenly, something clicked for him and he interrupted the moment between the two.

"Fionna, do you think I could talk to Marshall for a minute?" he asked.

"Huh?" asked Fionna in surprise, snapping out of her slight daze. Her eyes darted over to her best friend and she frowned at his crestfallen appearance. "Wait, FP, I don't think that's a good idea. Marsh, I'm really sorry. I can make it up to you! Do you wanna punch me in the face? I know that's not gonna help a lot but I don't want you to be upset. I've been a total dork of friend!"

"Do you really think _that's_ what this is about?" asked Marshall, becoming angry once again in spite of himself. Why was she being so dense? And why was she dating Flame Prince? He _hurt_ her-more than once apparently.

Fionna just looked at him in confusion, making his heart sink. He really should've known nothing would change. Maybe it wasn't even the fire elemental's fault that she didn't notice him; maybe it just wasn't meant to work out.

Out of a bit of pity for the vampire wallowing in despair, Flame Prince spoke up once again. "Fionna you should really get those burns bandaged." He _was_ worried after all. Water hurt him, so fire had to hurt her-that's simply how it was.

"But-

"Fionna, go home," Marshall deadpanned.

Fionna did not miss the fact that he'd used her full name; that only happened when he was really upset with her. She didn't want to leave with the gross feeling inside her stomach, but Marshall didn't want her there; she was just making things worse apparently.

Coming to a decision, Fionna nodded wordlessly and waved to both of them. She began to walk in the direction of her house and paused beside Marshall for a second. She opened her mouth to say something, but the hurt look on his face made her think better of it. Instead of apologizing futilely, she trudged on in the direction of her home.

About a minute after she was gone, Marshall made to leave himself, planning to head back to his cave and write a song or something. Music usually helped him feel better. Before he got very far though, Flame Prince stopped him.

"Stop please," said the fire elemental with an air of his usual princely authority.

Contrary to what he'd usually do, Marshall actually stopped and turned to face the Mohawk haired prince.

"I don't have all day, son; what?"

"You like my girlfriend," suggested Flame Prince, his suspicions affirmed when the Vampire King visibly flinched at the combination of 'my' and 'girlfriend.'

"Congratulations! I'd give you a gold star but I left them at home," said Marshall sarcastically with a scowl.

Flame Prince frowned at his rudeness. What right did the vampire have to be mad? It was _his_ girlfriend and he just found out some other guy had a thing for her. If anyone were to be mad, it ought to be the prince, but no, he was raised to be polite and so he would be. "I'm sorry you're hurt, but it's not my or Fionna's fault. If you didn't tell her then it's yours," explained Flame Prince.

"I was giving her time!" Marshall exclaimed defensively.

'Yeah right' thought Flame Prince. "Look, it doesn't matter now. She's not your girlfriend, so just…give up, okay?" he asked, "besides it wouldn't work out between you two anyway. She's fourteen and you're what? A thousand years old?"

Marshall froze for a second at his words and then began to tremble in anger. "What? You think you're so much better?" he demanded, baring his fangs. "You can't even touch her without hurting her! Your logic is bunk! At least there wouldn't be a risk of her dying if she were with me."

Flame Prince's fire grew along with his rage. He already knew that and didn't need to hear it again. "I'll figure something out!"

"Temper, temper," Marshall practically spat.

"Agh! I can't believe I started feeling bad for you! No wonder Fionna never noticed you!"

That set Marshall off and he launched himself at the fiery prince, knocking him to the ground. Before the prince could react, Marshall had his handy axe guitar at his throat. Unfortunately, the sudden movement had knocked the hat he had been wearing to protect himself from the sun off his head and he hissed in pain.

Marshall quickly retrieved his hat but Flame Prince used the time to stand up and prepare for another attack.

The Vampire King had lost some of the will to fight due to the immense pain from the sun and instead just stood in front of the prince. With both feet on the ground, he was only an inch or two taller than the hothead.

"Listen up princey," Marshal began, "enjoy your time with Fionna now because I'll be taking her soon."

"I'd like to see you try," challenged the Flame Prince.

"Oh, you will."

**Leave a review and stay tuned folks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Woot chapter 3! I'm just overflowing with inspiration and support from all of you mathematical dudes! **

**jodiexluvsxanime: Hm, well, if by 'thing' you mean friendship, then yeah, I bet they did. But I think that's all it was seeing as Marceline was like six years old when she met him and he looked like he was in his fifties.  
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**bluefire321: Thank you, btw I like your avatar! I'm a major Fairy Tail fan! Loke's m'boi though :)  
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**kittyninja321: huh, 321 sure is a popular number! And I am, thank you!  
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**Fionna cake13: my goal is to make each chapter better than the last \./  
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**Adventure time girl 123: I like to think of Marshall as witty character, so I hope that comes through a bit in this chapter! I've got a huge weakness for love triangles myself so you can definitely expect a lot of it in my work! Keyboards for the win! Also, I love long reviews so no need to worry about that!  
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**Guest: thank you, gray face :)  
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**BlueMockingJayBird: WHO WILL WIN? YOU DECIDE! EPIC RAP B-nah, just kidding. I decide ;)  
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**Really Big Hat: I agree with you but I like PG too just cuz he's voiced by NPH! Thank you for your kind words!  
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**cicir: on like Donkey Kong  
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**xLastOneStandingx: done!  
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**For the extremely faint of heart: Marshall's a bit naughty in this chapter, but you're all big boys and girls and it _is_ rated T, so it should be fine. You know, it's not even that bad; I'm probably building it up too much. :)  
**

Fionna stood at the entrance to Marshall's cave, nervously fiddling with the hem of her shirt. It'd only been two days since she last saw him, but she was fed up of waiting around and feeling horrible about whatever she'd done to upset him. So, earlier that morning she jumped out of bed and immediately made her way over to the Vampire King's lair, prepared to confront him.

That was an hour ago.

Fionna knew she needed to fix things with Marshall, but she was worried he'd just ask her to leave again. She'd never seen him so…dead, ironically enough, and it'd really scared her. She didn't want to lose her best friend-she wouldn't!

Taking a deep breath, she strode quickly over to his house and knocked bravely on the door. After a few moments, the door opened to reveal the rocker vampire floating a few inches above the ground as per usual.

Fionna smiled sheepishly, prepared to have the door slammed in her face or something along those lines. Oddly enough though, Marshall grinned wildly at the sight of her, his fangs glinting a bit. "So you finally decided to come in; I thought you were gonna chicken out and go home."

"W-what? How did you-

"I know what goes on in my cave. It's a vampire thing," he interrupted her with a shrug, stepping aside to allow her into his house.

Fionna walked past him awkwardly and sat herself down on his sofa, ignoring how hard it was. How comfortableness of her butt was the least of her worries right now. She needed to figure out what exactly she had done to make Marshall mad and then fix it. That was her goal, her game plan, if you will, and she was going to stick to it. "Marshall-

"Aren't you uncomfortable?" he interrupted once again.

"Oh, no, it's cool; I just-

"The last time you came over you said my couch was like a rock. What kind of host would I be if I let you sit on it?" he asked with a certain glint in his eyes that made Fionna nervous-though she wasn't sure why.

"I can just stand," she suggested, beginning to push herself off the couch. She just wanted to get to her point and he was making it unnecessarily hard for her. He didn't even seem mad! It was a total change from the Marshall she'd seen a couple days ago, but not quite his usual, playful self. Normally he would let her lead in their talks and mess with her while she did so, but today he was focused on whatever point he was trying to make and hardly allowed her to speak.

Marshall's grin-it was a smirk actually-returned full force. "I have a better idea."

Before she could even register what was going on, Fionna felt her feet lose touch with the ground and felt two arms around her waist. It took her a moment, but she realized that Marshal had picked her up and placed her on his lap with her legs dangling on either side of his floating body. Their position brought her face closer to the Vampire King than she was used to being and she felt her face heat up almost immediately.

"Comfy?" he asked with a devilish smile, giving Fionna a good look at his sharp teeth.

"I, uh, I guess, sorta," she responded, her words coming out as jumbled up as her thoughts. Physically, she actually _was_ more comfortable, but she hardly noticed that now. Marshall had effectively ruined all her plans of confronting him and now she was desperately floundering for words. She had no idea what she was freaking out about, after all she'd touched the vampire tons of times before-he was her best friend for Grod's sake! But that didn't change the fact that her stomach was doing somersaults.

"You know Fi, you should really stop blushing. It's been over a thousand years, but I still can't say I'm very good at controlling my urges," he teased, making her cheeks burn even more.

"Marshall…" Fionna whimpered in embarrassment.

"What? Is something wrong?" he asked, still grinning.

"I came here to talk-

"Then talk; I'm listening," he said, moving one of his hands from her waist to the shock of blonde hair falling out of her bunny hat. Fionna tensed as he played with the ends of it. "Hm, it's softer than I thought it'd be."

If Marshall kept up what he was doing her face would be stained red permanently! He kept making her feel all weird and…well, just _weird_! It wasn't at all like their usual hanging out. Her thoughts were all over the place. Did Marshall always smell so…masculine? And were his eyes always so dark? Was his voice always so deep and husky?!

Whatever was going on, Fionna couldn't deal with it for another minute. She couldn't talk to Marshall right now; in fact, she couldn't really talk to anyone until she had some time to get her brain unscrambled.

"M-Marshall, can you put me down? I just remembered I have to…go give bath a Cake. I mean, give Cake a bath!" Fionna said quickly.

The Vampire King chuckled and placed Fionna back on the ground, preferring floating himself. "You never told me what you wanted to talk about; is that okay?"

Fionna nodded, not trusting her voice, and wiggled her fingers at him in an awkward wave as she headed to the door.

"Fi, wait."

The blonde Adventuress turned her head to see what he wanted, only to see his face mere centimeters in front of hers. Before she even had time to freak out, Marshall pressed his lips to hers. If any piece of her mind was previously in tact, it certainly wasn't anymore. This wasn't the Marshall she knew! Why was he changing on her all of a sudden?

For the first time since she had arrived, Fionna thought of Flame Prince and immediately felt the urge to throw up. The two of them had just started dating, and though it was often painful, she was his girlfriend for Glob's sake! And kissing Marshall…that was cheating!

The more she thought about it the sicker she felt and she finally pushed Marshall away, not even sparing him glance before she dashed out the door.

Her heart was pounding mercilessly in her chest as she ran, feeling sicker with every step. The kiss wasn't her fault, but she'd let it go on for too long. Flame Prince had a right to know what happened, right? Was that how relationships worked? Would he be really mad and want to break up with her? Or would he get in a fight with Marshall?

Her last thought seemed extremely plausible. Flame Prince was sweet and caring on the inside but that didn't make his temper any less potent. Seriously, he even slapped her when they first met and tried to burn down a city! There was no telling how he'd react. Regardless though, she didn't want her boyfriend and her best friend-Marshall still held that position in spite of recent events-to hate each other's guts…Maybe she didn't need to tell FP? Wouldn't that just be easier for everyone?

"Ugh! I don't know what to do!" Fionna groaned out loud. She was no good with this stuff. Kicking monster buns was more her area of expertise. What she needed was someone experienced in love-like! Like, not love-to talk to.

As if on cue, Fionna caught sight of smoke rising from what was likely a campfire in the forest. "Of course!" she exclaimed, heading towards the smoke; she knew _exactly_ the person to talk to!

* * *

"So, let me get this straight. You're having relationship issues, so you came to me?"

"Uh-huh," Fionna said, nodding enthusiastically from where she sat in Lumpy Space Prince's campsite.

"Ah! That's so lumping adorable! You came to the right person, babe," said the over-confident purple blob, "I get so many chicks fighting over me for my hot bod. For real, my situation is, like, a bajillion times worse than yours."

"So you know what I should do LSP?" asked Fionna hopefully.

"Duh! Why are you even asking me that? Of course I know what you should do!" LSP exclaimed angrily.

"Oh, sorry, so what _exactly_ do you suggest?" she asked, not quite sure how to phrase her question to not offend the lumpy prince.

"Both of them."

…

"WHAT?" Fionna practically shrieked, jumping up off the ground. "I can't do that, t-that's wrong! I don't even want to do that! I'd be a total butt!"

LSP scoffed at her. "Look girl, you're not gonna be young forever, right? So you gotta use your lumps while you still got them! You know what? I'm gonna give you an exclusive piece of juicy gossip," he said, looking both ways before whispering in Fionna's ear, "Melinda is dating Jeremy, Fred, _and_ Michael, and none of them know about each other!"

"Who are those dudes?" asked Fionna in confusion.

"Shh! They're right _there_! You have to learn to keep your lumpin' voice down when you're exchanging hot gossip, like me!" LSP practically shouted.

Fionna followed LSP's line of sight to see a group of ants eating an old apple on the ground… "Are you talking about those ants?" Fionna _whispered._

"Duh!"

"How can you understand them?" she asked in amazement.

"I'm just reading their body language, it's so obvi!" LSP declared proudly.

…Perhaps LSP wasn't the best to go to for advice. He was starting to go a bit bonkers in the woods. Nevertheless, Fionna didn't want to offend him. "Oh, well, thanks LSP, you were really helpful!" she lied, planning on going home to talk to Cake.

"I know," he replied, picking specks of dirt out of his nails. "Oh, wait, girl, you never told me who these guys are you're having trouble with!"

"Huh? Oh, you know, just…dudes," said Fionna, not wanting to tell the biggest gossip she knew _everything_. That would just come back to bite her in the buns.

"Nuh-uh, that's bogus! I totes helped you out and I'm so bored out here, you gotta tell me who you're dealing with," LSP said firmly.

"Sorry LSP!" called Fionna, already as far away as her legs could carry her, angering him.

"Ugh!" he groaned, kicking over the rusty bucket he'd found earlier that day. "How dare she not tell me? Well, that's just fine! I'll just use my super genius brain to figure it out, detective style!"

After a few moments of pacing back and forth LSP snapped his fingers in realization. "Of course! How could I not realize it? Fionna's in total like-like with PG! Oh my glob! I gotta tell people!"

**Stay Tuned! Also, let it be known that reviews get answered at the top (probably didn't need to say that)!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait guys!**

**Adventure time girl 123: Yup :) I really enjoyed writing LSP so I hope you guys enjoyed his part as well.  
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**Fionna cake13: love square, eh? I was planning on PG being more of a friend, but if enough people like the idea of a love square then I'll probably do a little something.  
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**NeonTalisman: couldn't have said it better myself  
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**bluefire321: I was smiling like crazy the whole time I was writing that scene. I'm glad you didn't think it was too much!  
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**BlueMockingJayBird: Yes, yes I imagine he is...I wonder what he might do?  
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**cicir: lol nice analogy  
**

About a week had passed since what Fionna dubbed as "the Marshall Incident" and she had spent the entire time in the Outer Realm, dealing with the Countess of Lemongrab's craziness.

She was just lonely and didn't understand how to be a nice person basically. She even had some sort of shock therapy chamber in her home to train her 'subjects.' Luckily, Cake saved her from getting shocked too bad and PG found them after making a second Lemongrab for the first one to get along with.

Together, the two Lemongrabs weren't actually all that nuts. She wouldn't plan on spending a ton of time with them or anything, but still it was cool how they nullified each other's crazy. Maybe that's what they could do for Ice Queen!

"Hey Fi, did you notice anything weird about PG?" asked Cake suddenly as they walked back to their tree house-well, Cake waked, Fionna rode on her back.

"Hm? PG? Not really," she said honestly, thinking back on her interactions with him at Lemongrab's place. "I guess he seemed like he was in a hurry to get back, but he's a prince and has a bunch of boring royal stuff to do, you know?"

"I dunno girl, he seemed kinda wack to me," replied Cake with a frown, far from being convinced.

Fionna simply shrugged in response, her thoughts not lingering for too long on her ex-crush. Instead, whether she liked it or not, her mind strayed to the sly Vampire King as it had been doing since she last saw him.

She was much calmer about the whole thing now that she had some time to think about it; she had chalked the whole experience up to Marshall messing with her to get revenge for being a dork of a friend. If that were really the case-which she was inclined to believe it was-then she didn't need to say anything to FP _and_ Marshall was probably over it now. With that in mind, Fionna was happy to declare her problem solved, but of course nothing could be that easy.

As the sisters made their way back to their beloved tree house, Fionna noticed something glowing in the distance.

"Hey Cake, do you see that?" asked Fionna.

"What? That light? Yeah…isn't that where Candy Kingdom is? Do you think they're having a party or something?" wondered Cake, a bit miffed at the prospect of a party she wasn't invited to.

"Maybe, do you wanna check it out?"

Cake nodded and sped up, changing course for Candy Kingdom. Unfortunately, as the two got closer Fionna realized in horror that Candy Kingdom wasn't glowing with festival lights, but rather smoking because of a raging inferno that was melting many of the candy buildings.

Fionna quickly hopped off Cake and ran up to one of the fleeing candy people. "What happened?" asked Fionna worriedly, "did one of PG's experiments go wrong? Or is someone attacking?"

"Oh, Fionna, thank Grod you're here! Prince Gumball needs help! The Prince of the Fire Kingdom is attacking and won't listen to reason!" exclaimed the candy person.

"Prince of the Fire Kingdom? No way, that's crazy! FP wouldn't do this, right Cake?" asked Fionna, paling at the thought. Sure Flame Prince was supposedly evil, but he never actually did anything bad! And after he started hanging out with her, he had even started helping with some of her adventures. It wasn't like him to go after a city of innocent candy people.

"I don't know girl, but you saw what he did to that city of goblins. Your boy has some anger issues," said Cake with a frown. She didn't want to believe it either. After the first couple of incidents, the cat had actually grown to like the fire elemental, but that didn't change the fact that he was born to do evil. Maybe it was only a matter of time before he snapped. Of course, Cake wouldn't tell Fionna that, but still… "Anyway, I'm gonna rescue the people; you go find Gumball and Flame Prince!"

With that, Cake ran off to do as she said and Fionna ran through the burning city to locate the source of the fires. After a few minutes, Fionna found herself at the entrance to the candy castle where a huge pillar of fire was blazing angrily. Prince Gumball himself stood in front of the large flame, waving his hands expressively and yelling something Fionna couldn't make out.

"PG!" she called, running closer and dodging a flaming piece of frosting, "what's going on?"

Prince Gumball looked relieved to see her and the pillar of fire dimmed slightly at the sound of her voice. "Fionna! I'm _so_ glad you're here! Please explain to Flame Prince that there is absolutely nothing going on between us!" Gumball was trying to remain calm and polite but Fionna could hear the desperation in his voice. It was understandable, seeing as his kingdom was burning down around him.

"FP?" Fionna asked nervously. The flame surged in her direction for a moment before shrinking down to the familiar form of the boy she liked. Though he was no longer as tall as the castle itself, he was still glowing and scowling hotly, clearly furious.

"You said you weren't going to hurt me again!" he said, his eyes blazing. "Why did I trust _you_, a water elemental? I-I-

Flame Prince's words were cut off by a pained growl, as he once again became a large flame that threatened to melt Gumball's home.

"FP I don't know what you've heard but I don't like Gumball like that! We're just bros, okay?" Fionna yelled over the roar of the fire. Flame Prince didn't respond this time and Fionna groaned in exasperation. Gumball was looking at her like he expected _her_ to fix this whole thing and FP was clearly blaming her. Why was this her fault? Technically Flame Prince was her boyfriend but it wasn't like they were in love or anything. Even if she _did_ still like Gumball, which she very much did_ not_, it didn't merit this sort of response. Now wasn't the time for that thought; she needed to come up with something to stop Flame Prince and fast. Even if she were to regret it later…

"FP you gotta stop this, alright? I don't like Gumball; I'm in love with _you_!"

Everyone froze at the sound of her voice. Gumball's mouth hung open like a fish and the fires eating the city's buildings went out as FP regained his human form to stare as well. Even Fionna stood stock still, just staring and resisting the urge to take back her words. Fearing that he would erupt once more, she thought it best not to take that course of action though.

"You…love me?" asked Flame Prince in awe, a blush creeping its way onto his cheeks. "That's, I mean, I think-I think I do too, about you…ah, I need to go-sorry!"

Flame Prince ran off just as quickly as he had come, clearly embarrassed, leaving Gumball and now Fionna gaping.

Gumball recovered from shock first, clearing his throat and blushing a bit. It was rather awkward for him being present during such an important moment for a new couple…_very_ new couple actually.

"Fionna, thank you for saving my kingdom, but are you sure you did not speak a little…rashly?" he asked. He was four years older than her and _he_ certainly hadn't said anything along those lines to someone. Actually, he was too busy most of the time so he hadn't actually ever been romantically involved with anyone, but still, from what he knew, it was a fairly big deal to say those words.

"…"

"Fionna?" he asked, concern etched into his features.

"Huh?" she asked dazedly.

Gumball frowned. It wasn't like Fionna to zone out when talking to him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, I'm…fine," she replied, her voice lacking any of its usual emotion.

Gumball's frown deepened. She certainly didn't _seem_ fine. Wasn't she supposed to be happy after hearing that kind of confession from a significant other? That was generally how people reacted. So why was she acting so…dead? "Fionna are you sure y-

"Sorry PG, I think I'm just…gonna go for a walk," she said, turning around and wandering off in a random direction.

"Oh dear," Gumball mumbled to himself. Fionna obviously wasn't well, but he had a kingdom to begin repairing so he didn't have time to help her out. Cake would've been an ideal choice to talk to her, seeing as the two were sisters, but he needed Cake's help with the kingdom for a bit. "Ah hah!" he exclaimed, thinking of the _perfect_ person to talk to Fionna. "Lord Monochromicorn!" he called, and with in second his loyal steed appeared. "I need you to go to Marshall Lee's home and tell him what has occurred here today. I'm very worried about Fionna and I'd like him to go check up on her," he said.

Lord nodded in response and was off in a flash, leaving Gumball to begin the restoration of his partially melted city.

**So, I'm going to try to have a calmer next chapter because I feel like every chapter I've written thus far has been rather action-filled. I just have this sense that I'm moving too quickly, but tell me what you think! I'd love a second opinion!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Tada! I present you with my longest chapter yet!**

**i wish anime guys were real: first of all, me too. Second of all, working on more flirty Marshall moments, but there aren't any in this chapter unfortunately  
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**The Tune of Coyotes: I love the triangles as well and lol I never thought of Gumball's name in that way!  
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**NekoNekoBlonde: ok  
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**adventuressfiona: your review was actually the final push I needed to write this chapter, so thanks!  
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**bluefire321: that's exactly the effect I'm going for!  
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**Adventure time girl 123: you're in luck, I enjoy writing about angry characters  
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**cicir: no doubt  
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**UlquiorraNoKokoro: ok, tried to slow this one down; tell me what you think :)  
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**Hyuga09: you are a dedicated reviewer! Good for you!  
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**GoatLover101: this is my favorite review ever...of all time (grats to those of you who get this reference!)  
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**PrincessKavKitty: my goal in life is to cure boredom  
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**DeathKiss14: thank you!  
**

Marshall floated about a foot above his couch, mindlessly strumming his guitar. He wasn't looking to write a new song, merely to occupy his mind with something. Unfortunately, centuries of playing had made playing his favorite instrument one of the most effortless things for him to do. His hands were busy, but his mind sure wasn't. After all, it kept drifting off to the blonde adventuress.

Much to his dismay, she was avoiding him. Sure, duty called in the outer realm, but to spend an entire week there? Fionna worked much quicker than that. It was avoidance, plain and simple, not that he hadn't expected as much when he blatantly flirted with her the last time she came to his house. He refused to regret his actions though. He was sick of pretending he didn't think of Fionna as more than a friend and even sicker of her not even seeing him as a guy. That would change though; he was sure of it. If she wanted to avoid him then fine he'd let her, he wouldn't run back to her, apologizing and pretending everything was just dandy. No, not this time.

His resolve steeled, Marshall continued to pluck at his guitar until he heard the sound of hooves in his cave. Puzzled, he glanced out his window to see Bubba's monochromicorn, making his way towards his house.

Thankful for the distraction, Marshall put his guitar down and floated out to spare Lord the trouble of knocking. Oddly, the candy prince wasn't with him.

"Hey Lord, you come here without Bubba?" asked Marshall, looking around once more for his pink friend.

Lord nodded in response and stomped at the ground furiously. For a second Marshall forgot that Lord only communicated through Morse code and he ignored the stomping. Realizing his own stupidity, Marshall began paying better attention and caught the end of what Lord was 'saying'.

"Okay I got that the Flame Prince burned down Candy Kingdom-that's crazy! Bubba must've really pissed that guy off," said Marshall, smiling at the thought of an upset Flame Prince, "but can you repeat the first part?"

Lord rolled his eyes but stamped out his message again all the same.

So Fionna needed help and no one but him could do it. Marshall's stomach rolled as he tried to think of something that could make Fionna, the brave, strong adventurer, wilt like some meek flower. From what Lord had said, Fionna wasn't in any kind of life threatening danger, but was dealing with some kind of emotional issue-the worst kind of issue in his opinion.

Marshall, like most men, wasn't that great at talking about feelings. It wasn't like he bottled them up or anything; he was just more of a show than tell kind of guy.

Moving past himself though, Fionna probably didn't even want to see him. In fact, he was sure Fionna didn't want to see him; what was going on between the two of them would only add to her stress.

He couldn't just leave her alone though!

Marshall swallowed hard as he realized what he was going to do. Fionna needed him, her _friend_, and he was going to be there. Grod knows the last thing he wanted to do was 'pretend', but Fionna's happiness meant more to him than the nature of their relationship.

With a sigh, Marshall thanked Lord for telling him about Fionna and then flew off in search of his best friend.

* * *

He found her before too long, hugging her knees to her chest as the wind whipped her hair around her. The golden mass seemed alive in the breeze, dancing around Fionna, protecting and shielding.

She had chosen a hill not too far from her house to sit on and she either didn't notice his approach or simply didn't care. He half-hoped it was the former.

"Hey Fi," he said softly, sitting himself down next to her without bothering to ask her permission.

He was answered with silence, but he was not deterred. He expected as much. In fact, he had seen Fionna like this before. It was extremely rare, but she wasn't impervious to the world around like everyone seemed to believe. Sometimes, she was just a regular teenage girl with her own personal turmoil.

The generally cheery girl willingly shouldered everyone's burdens, taking care of their problems without a second thought, but from time to time things got to her. Often it was the prospect of being the only one of her kind-he had offered to turn her into a vampire when she told him, but she, thinking it was a joke, laughingly declined. He had let her believe he was merely kidding, but his offer was legitimate-then and now, though he doubted she'd accept any time soon.

Today though, her problem most likely stemmed from the conflict between her jerk of a boyfriend and Gumball. "I heard about what happened," he continued, though he doubted he'd get a response just yet. That would be much too easy. "You're free to stay silent as long as you like, but I'm not leaving until you talk to me."

He'd prepared too. He had his umbrella-not a parasol-and an apple; he was good to go for as long as she decided to be stubborn because whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not, she needed someone.

Surprisingly, Fionna grumbled something indistinguishable. "What was that?" he asked, almost excited to have her talking so quickly. That showed a certain amount of trust right? If his heart was still beating, there was no doubt in his mind it would've sped up.

"I wanna be alone," she repeated, burying her face farther into her arms.

Well, so much for trust, but Marshall wouldn't let himself feel disappointment. It wasn't about him right now, but Fionna. He could despair over the semantics of her words later.

"I can respect that," he said, not moving an inch.

"So why aren't you leaving?" she asked, sounding slightly irritated.

"I said I respected it, not that I was going to do anything about it."

Fionna let out an angry groan and Marshall almost grinned-until he noticed a drop of water slip down her cheek. It wasn't raining, and more drops of water-tears-followed the first.

She was crying.

He had made her cry. Marshall's amusement disappeared immediately and his stomach lurched uncomfortably. He'd never seen Fionna shed tears. _Ever_. It wasn't like he thought she never cried, but she certainly never did it in front of him. For as long as he knew her, she hated seeming weak, and he had no doubt that tears were a sign of weakness in her mind. He didn't agree, but it was unlikely she would have a revelation anytime soon.

She choked out a sob and Marshall felt another wave of sadness wash over him. He hated seeing her like this, but he would never leave her. He wanted to be here for her in these moments more than anything. If he could just make her smile-help her out just a little bit-then he would be happy. His sitting and watching her cry wasn't helping her at all though.

In a surge of emotion, Marshall pulled Fionna over to him and let her head fall onto his chest. His arms encircled her protectively and to any outsider the two would've looked like they were just hugging. In reality, he held her to protect her and shield her from those who might walk by. If she were discovered, she would only become more upset.

And so Marshall simply held her as she soaked his shirt with tears she wanted to hide. He couldn't make all her problems disappear, but he could do this much.

After a while, her sobs ceased and though she still shook slightly in his arms, she seemed to have cried all she needed to. A few more moments passed and even the shaking stopped; she'd gone so still he thought she might've drifted off, but the sound of her breath, labored and uneven, led him to think otherwise.

He didn't say anything to her, not wanting to scare her off or worse. Right now, he would just wait for her.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice thick. She angled her head slightly to look at him through her wet eyelashes.

The reason was obvious in his mind, but he knew it would only make her more upset. Instead he told a half-lie. "It's what friends do."

"So you're my friend now?" she asked bitterly and he flinched a bit at the venom in her voice. Had his actions really affected her that greatly? Did she think he hated her or something?

"Always have been," he said, doing his best to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"Friends don't freak out on each other and then play cruel pranks on them to get revenge," she spat, staring down in anger at her hands, which were gripping fistfuls of his shirt.

A prank? Was that what she thought? Marshall could've laughed out how painfully unamusing the idea was. Regardless of her mood, he wouldn't let her believe his actions were meant to torment her in some sick way. "That's true, so it's a good thing I didn't," he replied.

She snorted in response, still refusing to look him in his eyes. He wouldn't let her get away with that. He grabbed her chin-almost roughly-and forced her to meet his severe gaze. "I'm serious," he said firmly.

After a moment she pulled away from his hand and he let her go. "Sorry," she mumbled pitifully.

Marshall sighed. "I'm not trying to make you feel worse, I just-look, it's not important." Glob, what a lie that was. "Tell me what happened."

"FP started melting PG's kingdom," she said simply.

"I heard that part," he said, "is that really the whole reason of why you're out here? You know your…_boyfriend_…has a bit of a temper." Oh, how he hated that word.

"Yeah, I do," she said, cracking a bit of a smile for a mere second.

"So what's the real reason?" Marshall asked, proud he'd drawn out a smile somehow.

"I told FP I love him," she said and her words made his cold heart break. "And he said he loves me."

Even better.

Marshall swallowed around a lump in his throat and he cursed his stinging eyes. He wouldn't cry. Absolutely not.

In spite of himself, he realized that if everything were as wonderful as he would've thought based on what she'd said, then she wouldn't be out here now. The thought gave him a bit of hope; he wasn't sure he could deal with Fionna being in love with another guy _again_. Maybe she couldn't either after everything that had happened with Gumball and that's why she had sobbing into his shirt.

"That's great," he replied, glad she wasn't looking at his face now. He didn't need a mirror-not that he could use one anyway-to see that his face held a pained expression. He was just lucky his voice hadn't cracked.

Fionna shook her head. "I only _said_ I loved him because he was burning everything and I knew it would make him stop," she explained, her voice still raw, "but he said it back. Why did he have to do that? I just-Marshall, I don't want to be in love again, not now. It just hurts and I know that's not how it should be. I should be happy, right? If he hadn't said anything back to me I should've been upset, but instead I'm here, hating him for saying it. Do you know how messed up that is? Glob, what is wrong with me?"

"It's not messed up and there's nothing wrong with you; you're just not ready," said Marshall softly. The initial pain at the thought of Fionna and Flame Prince being in mutual love had worn off but along with it came the realization that what he just said was the truth. Fionna truly was not ready to be in a romantic relationship. It didn't matter how much he wanted the opposite to be true; she just wasn't ready. Flame Prince would discover that sooner or later, and if he really did love her like he'd said…well, Marshall wasn't sure what he'd do. He'd be crushed though, that much was for certain.

"Everyone seems to think I am! Cake's always teasing me, FP asked me out, and _you_-Grod, I don't even know about _you_. If you weren't messing with me, why did you do all that…stuff?" she asked, her face reddening as she recalled sitting on his lap.

Marshall bit back a sigh. A confession from him wouldn't help her much now, but he didn't want to lie. "It doesn't matter," he said, "I'm your friend and I want you to be happy; that's all you need to remember. If you're not ready, then you're not ready."

He tried to be general, but Fionna caught his gaze, of her own will this time, and a spark of something akin to realization lit up her sky blue eyes. Whether she'd heard something in his words or seen something in his face, he didn't know, but she'd come to some sort of conclusion.

Slowly, she pushed herself away from him and stood up, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. She opened her mouth and shut it as she struggled for words. "Marshall," she began, thinking again for a moment before speaking, "I'm sorry."

And then she was gone.

**Ok, quick end note: does my answering reviews at the top bother people? Would you prefer if I had them all at the bottom or maybe that I didn't reply to them at all? I was just curious, because I enjoy doing it but I can see how it might be irritating to have to scroll down to get to the beginning of the chapter. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the wait and thank you all for your reviews and other such things! They really brighten my day and it's actually pretty embarrassing how giddy I get. I won't be giving feedback for reviews this chapter, but expect it for the upcoming chapters, now located at the bottom instead of the top. It's not much of a change, but for those who don't like it, they won't have to scroll past it anymore. **

**Anyway, the only reason this wasn't posted sooner was because of lack of inspiration. Most of the time writing this story comes easily but, this chapter was somewhat like pulling teeth. Don't get me wrong, I love writing it, but nearly every one of my characters is confused right now and it's making me rather confused...I think I'm going to go lay down.  
Enjoy!**

"Bubba, not that I'm not _totally _psyched that you decided to stop by, but could you just come back some other day?" asked Marshall tiredly. He wasn't feeling so hot after talking with Fionna the day before and the last thing he needed was the nosy candy prince breathing down his neck. "And don't you have a melted kingdom to deal with?"

"Reconstruction is well underway so I'm not needed there every second. Besides, I neglected my friend yesterday and I won't do the same today. Unfortunately she did not want to see me. Do you happen to know why that is?" asked Gumball accusingly. Marshall narrowed his eyes at his supposed 'friend'. He was blaming _him_ for Fionna's mood, which actually wasn't that far from the truth, but Marshall was sure that whatever pain he'd caused Fionna paled in comparison to the pain he'd felt being rejected. Gumball had no right to be mad at him!

"No flipping way are you putting this on _me_. Maybe it was you and prince hothead; you're her friend and he's her _boyfriend_ so of course she'd be upset over a fight," Marshall snapped.

Gumball huffed in response. He knew Marshall could be insensitive but he thought he would've at least been able to comfort the blonde adventuress. Grimacing as he sat down on the rock hard sofa, Gumball crossed his legs and waited for Marshall to sit himself down as well. "Alright Marshall, what has upset you? I'm not leaving until you speak to me seriously."

Marshall had a sense of déjà vu as he glared at his guest. He might just take a page from Fionna's book and curl up into a ball to wait until Gumball left. It was certainly tempting, but Marshall wasn't in the habit of estranging what friends he had. With a sigh, he spoke, "helping Fionna didn't exactly go as planned."

Gumball raised an eyebrow in suspicion. He could tell as much, but he decided not to say as much-it would just piss the vampire king off.

Marshall ran a hand through his messy raven hair, trying to figure out how best to phrase what he had to say. "That girl shouldn't be in a relationship with anyone," he said solemnly.

Gumball nodded thoughtfully. He wasn't sure he completely agreed but the relationship she was in was moving too quickly in his opinion. However, for Marshall to seem so distraught over that was rather odd. "Fionna's growing up quickly; girls do tend to mature quicker than boys, but I don't believe she's emotionally ready for what she's gotten herself into. Love's a complex emotion to deal with," said the candy prince.

"Ya think?" asked Marshall sourly, immediately regretting his words. It wasn't so much that he was apologetic for his rudeness, but rather that Gumball was extremely perceptive. The pink wad of gum was already on his case and he'd just given the man all he needed to piece things together.

Unfortunately enough, Gumball's eyes sparked with realization and despite the situation, a teasing smile made its way onto his pink face. "Oh, Marshall, I never expected you to be so petty. Or jealous for that matter."

Marshall hissed in response. He was tempted to yell he wasn't jealous, but that would only strengthen Gumball's suspicions. Besides, it wasn't exactly jealousy that had upset him. In fact, he'd been truthful when he said Fionna shouldn't be in a relationship with anyone. Anyone included _him_.

"It's a wonder I didn't notice this before! You are very good at concealing these kinds of things, my friend. Or perhaps you're not and you've fallen for her recently? No! I think I understand. You've liked her for a while, but now that she's in an actual relationship, you can't stand it! Am I right?" asked Gumball excitedly. For all his princely poise, the prince of the candy kingdom was acting a lot like a schoolgirl with a thirst for gossip. Since when was Marshall's love life such a huge interest?

Marshall's frown deepened as Gumball rambled on, clearly enjoying having discovered a potential weakness of the vampire king. The two were friends but Marshall's mischievous nature had led to more than a few nasty pranks in which the poor candy prince was _always_ the victim. Granted, Gumball tried once in a while to retaliate with a prank of his own, but…well, Gumball had no idea how to pull a half-decent prank. Not to mention Marshall was a pretty hard guy to mess with. The last time the pink prince had tried, he stole the Vampire King's underwear and raised it like a flag to soar high above candy kingdom. Much to his dismay, Marshall was utterly unperturbed with the notion of people knowing he preferred boxers to briefs and the only color of underwear he owned was an unsettling, crimson red. In addition the prank made many wonder why the candy prince possessed the Marshall's boxers in the first place; it took months for the scandalous rumors to die down.

_This_, unlike the boxers, was something Gumball could use-if he were a crueler person that is. In all likelihood, he'd probably just keep the truth about Marshall's affections to himself. That did not mean he couldn't tease the Vampire King mercilessly when the two were alone.

"I do _not_ like Fionna!" Marshall protested vehemently.

Gumball's smile fell and he righted himself once more on the uncomfortable sofa. "I understand," he said solemnly, "you don't like Fionna."

"Exactly! Thank you!" Marshall exclaimed exasperatedly, relaxing slightly.

Gumball's lips curled into somewhat of a smirk. "You _love_ her!"

…And the giddy schoolgirl persona was back.

Instead reacting with anger, which was what Gumball expected and wanted, Marshall sighed and shook his head. He was quiet for a bit, almost thoughtful as he leaned back with his arms crossed behind his head. "You know," he began slowly, "I can't help but think that your sudden fascination with _my_ love life…stems from _your_ complete lack of one."

Gumball huffed indignantly. "Not all of us have the freedom to go gallivanting around Aaa, dating whatever goth wizard comes our way," he snapped.

"Punk."

"What?" the candy prince sputtered.

"Ashley was punk, not goth. If you're going to attempt to make me feel bad about my ex, at least get it right."

Gumball took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his noise. Marshall had done a fabulous job of getting him distracted, as per usual, but when he thought about it, there _was_ one sort of nice thing about the new subject.

He'd hate to admit it, but the Vampire King was actually a fairly sensitive guy. Gumball had known Marshall for a while and was even around to meet Ashley when the two were in the lovey-dovey early stages in their relationship. Even when things started to turn sour, Marshall still tried desperately to make things work. Gumball had seen his friend stay up all night and day, mulling over recent fights and never placing all the blame on Ashley. He'd surprise her with songs he'd written for her, take her on dates to places he knew she loved, even if it was inconvenient for him, and he was always, _always_ there to listen to her problems, no matter what they were. As odd as it may seem, Marshall was good at being in a relationship. And so when it ended, he was crushed.

It was a part of the break-up he didn't like to dwell on, seeing as he had been the one to end things, but Gumball had been there to see the damage Ashley had done. For years, whenever she came up in conversation-almost never-Marshall's eyes would glaze over and he'd get really quiet-unbearably, painfully quiet.

Today was the first time Gumball had ever seen his friend talk about Ashley normally, though to be fair he hadn't brought it up in a while. He wondered when Marshall had made such a change and had a sneaking suspicion it was around the same time the bunny-eared adventuress entered into his life.

"Hey, dude, are you okay? You looked like you were gonna blow up and now you've got that creepy smile on your face; what's wrong with you?" asked Marshall, edging away from the candy prince.

"It's nothing," said Gumball with a shake of his head, "I was just thinking."

"Shocker."

Gumball shot him a rather un-intimidating glare before letting his gaze soften once more. "Marshall, I understand your concern for Fionna," he began, "I think it's noble and I think you mean well by it. However, you do not make decisions for Fionna. Yes, she's young and inexperienced, but that's changing rapidly. She's almost fifteen now, right? That's hardly an unusual age for a girl, a young woman rather, to have a relationship. I've spent the time since I heard of Fionna's dating Flame Prince, believing she wasn't ready. Now it seems both of you believe she isn't ready, and yet, I now find myself believing the opposite."

"What are you trying to say?" asked Marshall with a frown. First Gumball was on his side and now he was backing up and saying the complete opposite!

"Flame Prince is rash and inexperienced; he doesn't understand love any better than Fionna, but doing what they're doing now: freaking out, being embarrassed, crying, fighting-it's all a part of figuring it out! Did you not have similar experiences?"

Marshall grimaced. "It's different," he said uncertainly.

"It's not!" exclaimed Gumball, "don't you see? It's not! You saw Fionna at a weak moment, but you and I both know she never stays weak for long. This is not a reason for you to just…give up! Give Fionna some time now to collect her thoughts and dissect all the new emotions she's dealing with, alright? When she comes to see you, and trust me, I know she will, don't treat her like a child. Be patient and listen; I have faith that you can do that well."

When he finished his little rant, Gumball pushed himself off the stony couch and brushed off imaginary dust before strutting over to the door. Marshall continued to watch him with a slightly aggravated expression plastered on his face, but said nothing for a bit.

Gumball was halfway out the door when Marshall finally spoke.

"Thanks."

"Anytime, my friend! Now, I must go back to my kingdom! As you pointed out earlier, it is quite melty and therefore requires my assistance," Gumball declared. Marshall nodded and turned to make his way into another part of his house, but the candy prince, unused to seeing this side of his friend, couldn't help but make one last, teasing remark. "Oh, and Marshall Lee?"

The vampire tilted his head back towards Gumball to show he was listening.

"About what I said earlier…you never denied it!"

Gumball smiled as the wooden door slammed loudly in his face, eventually giving into laughter as he exited the Vampire King's cave.

**ps: there may be more errors in this chapter than there are in a usual one because I ended up staying up all night to write it. Don't know why; I just make stupid decisions. Good night!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright I'm back with chapter 7! I feel like lately I've had a lot of chapters with just two characters talking fairly seriously, but hopefully this marks the last of them for a bit. I'll try to contain more action in the next chapter and shake things up a bit. **

Just as Gumball had predicted, about a week after his visit, Fionna came knocking on the vampire's door once more. The situation gave her an odd sense of déjà vu, but she was confident things would not end as they had the last time she visited.

Not giving herself time to get anxious, Fionna marched up to the Vampire King's door and rapped her fist against it a few times.

Unlike last time, Marshall did not appear to open the door so she knocked again-this time a little louder.

Once again, there was no response. Apprehension turned to irritation as Fionna gripped the doorknob and stormed into the vampire's abode. She knew that things had gotten awkward between them, but she'd mustered up the courage to come see him so he ought to be able to do the same!

"Marshall I-

Fionna began to shout but abruptly closed her mouth when Marshall opened the door to the bathroom and came out clothed in only a pair of light-grey skinny jeans, his hair still dripping with water. Needless to say, Fionna had chosen to arrive at a bad time.

"I heard you; I was in the shower, alright? No need to yell," he explained with an exasperated sigh, not enjoying the sensation of his damp hair sticking to his skin.

Fionna felt heat rise to her cheeks and quickly focused her attention on the very boring and definitely _not _half-naked flower vase situated on a tiny end table next to the stony sofa. She tried to collect her thoughts, choosing to ponder why Marshall kept a flower vase with no flowers on display in his living room. Despite her best attempts, she could not keep her mind distracted for long and the vampire rose to the forefront of her thoughts once more.

She'd never seen a guy in any state of undress, save for in magazines that Cake liked to fawn over from time to time. While the men in those pictures looked ridiculous to Fionna with their fake sultry looks and unnatural beauty, Marshall was a completely different story. He lacked the six-packs that all the models sported, but he was by no means unattractive-her cherry-red face could attest to that. He was lean instead of muscular, but still utterly masculine in a way that Fionna couldn't quite comprehend given her inexperience.

It didn't take Marshall long to notice her discomfort, seeing as she was currently engaged in a staring contest with an inanimate object. Without a word, he floated out of the room and pulled on a long sleeve black shirt with some band logo on it and then reentered his living room.

"You can look now," he announced, wishing he'd taken the time to dry his hair because now the unpleasant wetness was seeping into his clean shirt.

Fionna hesitantly drew her eyes away from the vase to focus on Marshall once more. An awkward silence settled between the two while Fionna struggled to find something to say.

"Why do you have a vase with no flowers in it?" she blurted out unintelligently.

Marshall raised an eyebrow in confusion but answered her question. "It was a gift from my ex," he said, recalling the day Ashley claimed he needed something _living_ in the _living _room then proceeded to give him the vase to fill with flowers or something.

Fionna gulped and stared at her feet. The purpose of her visit was to address what she had dubbed the 'Marshall Incident Part Two,' but she'd hoped to somehow ease him onto the topic. With subject of his ex-girlfriend suddenly thrust in her face, she wasn't quite sure what to say anymore.

"That's cool," she said lamely, feeling the urge to smack herself in the head for her own awkwardness. She _really_ wasn't good at whatever this was.

An uncomfortable silence settled heavily between the two of them. Fionna continued to look anywhere but at the vampire in front of her, while said vampire did his best to contain his frustration. If she was going to formally reject him, the least she could do was do it quickly. Then he would pretend it was okay, she would go home, and he would proceed to right several sad songs whilst wallowing in his own misery.

It was hard being a sensitive guy.

"So, have you heard from Ashley lately?" asked Fionna, once again overcome with the urge to hit herself. Or maybe she should hit Marshall. This conversation wasn't doing her any favors and it was probably for the best that he not remember it-she just needed to hit him hard enough to forget.

Ashley was a major psycho feminist that complained about everything and made Marshall's life a living hell. She had seen some of their fights in his memories, and they were not the least bit pretty. And now she had gone and continued to speak about the same person who caused him so much pain. Why was she so dumb?!

Marshall stared at her in disbelief, not that she noticed, before answering. "I don't make a habit of talking to people who attempt to manipulate me by messing with my head," he said, referencing his last unhappy experience with the female wizard.

"Right, yeah, that'd be weird," agreed Fionna, chuckling weakly.

Yet again silence prevailed and Fionna began to regret her decision to visit the vampire king. She wasn't usually this awkward around him. A painful lump formed in her throat at the thought. Relationships, dating, and less than platonic feelings had done this to them. Unshed tears began to sting her eyes. Grod, she _hated_ it all. She bit her lip to give herself something tangible to focus on. It just wasn't fair!

Despite her building emotions, Fionna refused to cry in front of Marshall for the second time in one week. In a matter of seconds, she convinced herself that if she was strong enough to beat up a giant Cyclops, among other creatures, she was strong enough to have a conversation with her best friend.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to speak once more, but Marshall, sick of waiting, swiftly cut her off.

Dread curled in the pit of his stomach when he realized she was on the verge of tears because of him. _Again_. As much as it would pain him to do, he would reject himself on her behalf and spare the poor adventuress the trouble.

"Look, Fi," he began, using his nickname for her in hopes of providing some comfort. He didn't know why he bothered. He needed comfort more than her. "I don't what you think you've discovered, so I'm just going to come out and say this nice and clear: I like you. And I mean as a guy, not your friend."

Marshall watched her reaction closely. She sucked in air like she'd just been punched in the stomach and had the wind knocked out of her. Upsetting as it was, he'd expected as much. Now was his time to fix things though, and he wouldn't blow it.

"It's just a crush," _lie_, "so it's not a big deal," _lie_, "and I'll get over it soon." _Lie._

He mentally cringed with each word that came out of his mouth, but she didn't need to know the extent of his feelings. It would only make it that much harder to repair their friendship.

Fionna swallowed hard, figuring it was her turn to say something. "I want us to be friends Marshall," she said with a frown, "I really need you to be _just_ a friend…I'm sorry."

Marshall plastered a fake smile on his face. Now he was the one who felt like he'd been decked in the gut-the heart gut to be precise. "Yeah, I know; I mean what could you do without me, right? Bubba's no good at strangling pixies," he said with a laugh. Prince Hothead on the other hand was probably great at it.

Fionna gave him a relieved smile that made him melt a bit. Her smiles always seemed to have that effect on him, regardless of the situation. He was really starting to hate it.

"Oh!" Fionna exclaimed, doing a complete one-eighty mood-wise, "Cake and I are going searching for treasure with this awesome map we found in a cave the other day. The map's written in this totally mathematical ink that makes it so your eyeballs can only see it in moonlight. Since the moon only comes out at night and that's the only time you can go outside without getting burned, you should come with us!"

She seemed so excited that Marshall didn't have the heart to refuse her-literally. Besides, if he wanted to convince her everything was fine, he would have to hang out with her like he normally did.

Usually that didn't bother him-Fionna was a radical girl who knew how to have fun-but he doubted he'd enjoy pretending nothing had changed for very long. In fact, he was already disliking it.

"Alright, I'm definitely in; I'll drop by your house sometime tomorrow," he said, wishing she would just leave.

Fionna nodded enthusiastically and turned to leave. He nearly sighed with relief, but then she suddenly stopped and he froze. She shot him a hesitant look over her shoulder, but he winked and gave her another fang-filled grin, like he always did.

The little blonde girl seemed surprised for a moment, but then she beamed at him, lighting up the whole cave for a short time before she dashed out.

While Marshall prayed to whatever gods were listening that he would be able to move on quickly, Fionna felt assured that things were finally looking up.

Yes, everything would be better now…right?

_Right?_

**You ever break up with someone and say 'let's still be friends'? That always works, doesn't it?**_  
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**Coriacea: Thank you very much. Last chapter was especially hard to write because three characters (for a while) were against Fionna being in a relationship. It made sense to me, because Fionna's in that early stage in relationships where she's just really uncertain, but that's how everyone is at first, right? Marshall's just really down and can't put anything in perspective, while Gumball at first was against Fionna being in a relationship, but then changed his mind. I just got really confused writing it.  
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**genericperson: I'm glad you found it again :)  
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**bluefire321: yeah, I just see Marshall owning that moment. Why would he care if people saw his boxers? He's awesome so naturally his underwear is awesome too...nothing to be ashamed of XD  
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**GoatLover101: Writing for LSP was really fun and I've always liked the frenemyship between PB/Marcelline and PG/Marshall.  
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**Thank you all for your kind reviews, favoriting, and following! They bring me so much joy!  
**


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